A/N: OK Everyone! This is my very first FanFic, so I am looking for reviews and feedback. A beta would be really good too! :)

Chapter 1: Tank's had enough

Tank's POV

I pull up to the scene of the latest Bombshell near miss (or should that be near hit?) and sit quietly in the truck for a moment processing the scene. Bombshell is in the middle of a shouting match with the Cop, tears running down her cheeks, blood everywhere, left leg looking….odd. Trenton PD is doing the DtD (door-to-door) for witnesses, Trenton FD is putting the fire out, and the EMTs are trying to convince Bombshell to allow them to treat her.

I snort. Typical.

Bobby is already halfway to Steph, medic's bag in hand. He does the quick check then stares intently at her leg. I watch and it becomes clear, from the way Steph screams when he touches it, that she's either fractured or severely bruised her leg. Probably both. They walk (OK, Steph hobbles) to the ambulance where Bobby allows the EMTs to bandage Bombshell's arm, leg, and head and makes the usual promise of watching over her to prevent her being transported to St. Francis.

I walk over silently, my very size and presence reinforcing the decision, not that the EMTs fight about it anymore. They know Steph isn't going to go to the hospital, but they are required to at least offer to transport her. I do my own check of her injuries. Hmm…arm required stitches. So I'm guessing she hit the ground hard and slid, which would explain the stitches. Superficial lacerations to the head and leg….head looks like a bullet grazed her and leg from sliding on the ground. Soo…stitches for the head and arm, gauze for the leg.

She lived. Somewhere, another kitty just died to donate another nine lives to Bombshell.

Ranger's been gone, in the wind as Lula says, for 3 days. 72 hours and Bombshell's already managed to get injured. This has to stop. I can't take it. I'm not a drama queen like the cop but I do send Ella to Costco for Maalox, PepcidAC, and Tums whenever Ranger leaves town for an extended amount of time. Apparently, she's run into Joe a few times doing the same thing. The Maalox is not doing a lot of good for either of us; the solution is a little more complicated than that.

Steph has to make the changes necessary to do this job but I can't force her to do it. I want genuine change, not a half-assed motion. I want genuine change for her sake, because I'm afraid one day I'll show up at this scene too late. I want genuine change because she's great at the research end of being a BEA, spectacular even (and I don't give praise lightly) but she's shit at take-down procedures. I want, I need her to change because I'm tired of Ranger going in the wind. I want to see them happy together, but as long as Steph continues to make these dumbass moves, Someday is just that.

Yeah, I know about Someday.

"You OK, Little Girl?"

"Yeah," she replies. "It wasn't my fault!"

I'm not answering that. The front door is off the hinges, her car is still smoldering, and she's injured. No, these things individually might not be her fault, but I'm guessing that somewhere in the explanation, I'll pinpoint the parts that are.

"Are you dressed?"

"Umm…" She bites her lip and looks away and I have my answer. No. Even the Cop looks disgusted then walks off.

"Who's the skip?" Bobby asks.

"Thomas Mann. I know he's a bit higher than my usual, but…." The pain pills are starting to kick in. I pull her to me while Bobby grabs her purse. I start walking her over to the SUV when the Cop appears in front of us.

"Steph, you can't leave the scene yet. We still need to get a statement from you. Plus, we're still trying to estimate the damage. I need you to stick around for a bit."

"Joe, I'm tired, I'm injured, and the pain pills are starting to kick in. You aren't going to get a clear statement out of me right now, so let's just do this in the morning." Bombshell is leaning heavily on me and starting to slur her words, a sure sign that the pain pills are kicking in.

"Fine. You headed back to your apartment?" Damn, the Cop is persistent. She's five minutes from being asleep and he's holding up progress.

"Yeah. I'll see you tomorrow Joe."

"I'll be by later tonight to check on you. I'll stash a pizza in the fridge."

"Great. Thanks, Joe." Hmm….intel said the two were in an off phase. The Cop didn't make any attempts to wheedle an overnight stay so intel might be correct. Then again we've seen this before. I'll label it unconfirmed.

Bobby is still looking at her leg in concern. I catch his eye and nod. He picks her up and holds her in the back seat while we travel to St. Francis for a MRI of her leg. We have special permissions at the hospital and since Steph is already out cold, we won't have to argue with her about getting the test done. I have Steph's Medical Power of Attorney while Ranger's away and Bobby clearly thinks this needs to happen, so it will.

He calls the orthopedic surgeon then calls ahead to the radiology department so we won't have to wait. The radiologist is quick and efficient and after studying the output, the surgeon diagnoses Steph with a hairline fracture of the tibia, not a major break, but she will need complete bed rest for 2 weeks with moderate activity and physical therapy for 10 weeks. Lovely. He puts Steph's leg in a walking boot and we leave. Steph slept through the entire thing.

The ride to Steph's apartment is silent. I carry her up the stairs while Bobby opens the door and does the intruder check. All clear. He preps her for bed (the only man in the company Ranger will allow to undress Bombshell and even then she better be injured) and we clear the floor of clothes and shoes. Bobby leaves more pain meds and a note on the nightstand and we lock her in.

"What's her FTA wanted for?" Bobby asks.

"No idea. I need to pick up our FTAs from Vinnie, so let's make a stop at the Bonds Office." I reply. "You mind going in?"

Bobby gives me the side eye. "Not running from Lula, are you?"

"No." Yes! Something in my voice must've given me away because Bobby smirks, then shivers. I understand. Vincent Plum Bail Bonds is not a place one goes to for anything other than business. I love Lula but during the workday I need her in small doses. Connie is alright and could run that office without Vinnie ever coming in, but there's something about her that keeps me on my toes. Vinnie…hard to believe he and Bombshell share the same lineage at any point, but he mostly amuses me. Hard to take a man seriously once you've heard about the ducks. I do respect him though; the man was a good BEA at one point….wonder why he stopped?

I stop outside the Bonds Office and wait. Everything in the neighborhood seems to be OK; no suspicious individuals lurking about. Bobby returns with the files and I turn back toward RangeMan.

"Hmm…Thomas Mann, wanted for arson and assault. Bond set at $45,000," right under our threshold, "priors include armed robbery, B&E, assault…hmm…." Bobby skims down the rap sheet. Doesn't matter. This is the sort of FTA we've repeatedly asked Steph to let us help her on. The public indecency, shoplifting, public intoxication, minor crime individuals she can handle without a problem, but guys like this are the ones she needs muscle for. Now I'm irritated all over again.

"Arson?"

"Yeah…..beat up his girlfriend's lover, slapped the shit outta her, and then went over to the guy's house later that night and set it on fire."

"And he got bail?"

"Well, the girlfriend swears he was with her, but the guy's neighbors saw him running from the house and were able to ID his car."

"Shit."

"Yeah."

The rest of the day I spend in admin work. I hate when Ranger leaves. I'm stuck with the admin work that Ranger normally gets, which means my 10-hour workday usually morphs into a 14-16 hour workday. That leaves me with no real personal time. Three to four years ago, that didn't really bug me, but now that it seems we may be in Trenton for a while, I'm starting to resent it. The reason why is simple.

Steph is the cause.

When I'm irritated with her, she's Steph or Stephanie in my head. Lately I'm irritated a lot, although I'm trying mightily not to let it show. After a couple of fights, Lula is steering clear of me. Fuck! Gonna have to smooth that over later. And just when I almost had her convinced that "we" were worth taking the allergy shots. Bobby clearly picked up on it today which means that Lester almost certainly has figured it out. Nothing gets by him. When Ranger is "in the wind," the three of us have to hold the fort and lately, it's tearing us apart.

The simple fact of the matter is as much as I love Little Girl, and I do love her, if it weren't for Ranger's orders I would have fired her cute ass long ago. I don't care how you put it; Steph has no respect for the lives of the men she adores. She's a great researcher but she refuses to do anything to proactively get better on the physical side of her job. She keeps relying on dumb luck to survive and one day that shit will run out.

She went after a dangerous FTA today without a gun and probably with absolutely no backup plan except a smile and hope. Result? She was bullet grazed twice and she fractured her tibia, which means she's out of commission for the next 3-4 months. She's routinely outrun by even elderly skips and is constantly pelted with garbage and falls into ….well, everything. I don't count the Stephanie Plum car graveyard; those truly aren't her fault.

It's hard, painful really, to see someone I care about so much stumble and fall in this job. But she doesn't fail. The 98.5% capture record (or 100% depending on how you count) is a testament to that but the injuries are out-sized. Still, I fully expect to see her within the next week to work in the office doing searches.

That gives me 3-4 months to figure out what to do. Ranger's current orders call for a one year deployment, unless he can finish the job faster, so I've got some time to work with. I think fast and call Lester for a favor. Shit, I hate owing Lester. . . unless. . . I call Bobby to join us. 2200 means pulling the beer.

Lester shows up first irritated and not bothering to hide it. Apparently, I woke him out of a dead sleep, so he's gonna make my ass pay for it.

"This shit better be good and it better be fucking important. That was the first real sleep I've gotten in three days and if this is a call to hang out cuz you're lonely, then fuck it."

Yup, dead asleep. I hand him a beer and he scowls at me. Whatever follow-up sally was coming is halted with the appearance of Bobby in my apartment. He too looks dead tired and irritated.

"Before you even say it, grab a beer and let me talk." They both take a seat and chug. Silence reigns. I know I need to say something here, but I'm not sure how to begin.

"I've had it with this shit." Bobby says quietly, cutting me off before I can say anything and I'm wondering if I'm about to be yelled at. "No, Tank, I mean it. I think I know where you're about to go with this and I'm in agreement. I've had it with Bomber's shit."

Whoa. Thank you God. I appreciate that. Any other miracles you wanna throw my way?

"When Ranger's here, we protect his woman at all costs and when he's not we do the same but the cost is getting too fucking high—"

"What in the fuck are you two on?" Lester shouts. "Are you seriously telling me that's you're going to abandon Steph? We don't leave any RangeMan out with their ass twisting in the wind—"

"Enough!" I realize I better put a stop to Lester's tirade before he really gets going. Lester has a true soft spot for Steph and if Ranger weren't in the picture Lester woulda been in those panties a looong time ago. "Lester, I love Steph too, but you weren't at today's scene with me and Bobby and let me tell you, this shit really is getting old. Steph went after a FTA who's on bail for arson and assault. She had no backup. She wasn't armed. Today's losses include a front door, her car, and her tibia. Let's look at this objectively. If that was Hal, or Cal, or Binky, what would the punishment be? Immediate termination, that's what.

But because it's Steph, we patch her up and take her home. If she hadn't broken her leg, one of us would meet her at her apartment tomorrow and every day until she got the guy. Probably still will because he's still her FTA. Because of the high likelihood of injuries, we now pay double time for Bombshell duty and that's a bleed on the Trenton bottom line. And since we opened this office, half the men have been injured in the company of Steph at least twice. And we do it all for a woman who we love but who won't take advice, won't improve, and doesn't sleep with Ranger to improve his fucking mood. So tell me, Lester, what exactly does Steph do for RangeMan that is so fucking great that Ranger should continue to accept these contracts and go on missions?"

And with that, I know I've silenced him. Lester, Bobby and I are on call to the government but we rarely make ourselves available unless we all go as a team with Ranger. So, I go all the way and level with my two business partners; hell, they need to know. Ranger makes himself available but only when cash reserves for RangeMan LLC dip below $75 million. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the little known but very ugly secret behind Ranger's disappearances. Steph bleeds RangeMan Trenton to the point that when cash reserves for the company as a whole dip below $75 million, Ranger goes in the wind to make up the difference. If Steph actually became an asset to the fucking company instead of an open sore, Ranger might never need to go in the wind again.

This is also a fact that we are keeping from the other branches. The XO at each branch may or may not know or understand why Trenton is constantly having trouble with the bottom line, but I'm starting to hear grumbling that lets me know that they probably have figured it out and they resent it. While Bombshell stories are great for company morale and keep the company attuned and interested in the top leadership, the bottom line is we are not a charity. If we charged Little Girl every time we helped her, she'd owe us money.

Guarding Steph, helping her with her FTAs, and providing backup has actually put the master plan for this company behind 2.5 years. At this point, we should have had the San Antonio office up and running and scouting our move into Detroit, but we can't because we can't build up the money. Buying the two silent partners out meant having to rebuild the cash reserves. Steph's lack of focus is one of the many reasons Ranger won't even consider Someday. She's her own worst enemy.

My business partners, my buddies, fuck it, my brothers are floored. Ranger would never willingly reveal the reason for his constant disappearances to them without a gun to the head but I love him enough to do it for him. They need to know. They need to understand why I've just revealed all that shit. Lester needs to understand why Ranger keeps putting off the move to the San Antonio branch. Bobby needs to understand why his liaison duties with the other 4 offices are getting more difficult.

We need more honesty among us. The kids stealing from the company was a bad moment for all of us, causing us to doubt each other for the very first time and if we are ever going to come together again, we have to start trusting each other again. Ranger can kick my ass when he gets home for telling Lester and Bobby what I have, but at least when he gets home, there should be less frustration and mistrust among us.

Lester is still quiet, staring at his beer. I know that he knows that I'm right about all of it, but he has the same fear that we all have: if we push Little Girl, we may push her too far and she won't trust us or let us help. Well, no more. Hell, the result is the same whether or not we push her.

Bobby looks thoughtful, dangerous for Bobby. "So, if I'm following you the facts of the matter are these: Ranger is gone for the next year and Steph's leg needs at least 3 months to heal. So I expect her in the office next week or two to run searches. She won't like it, but with a fractured leg, she has no choice. So we have a year to whip her into shape. How far did you want to go with this, Tank?"

Lester butts in before I can say anything. "So, you two wanna kick her while she's down? Jeez, some friends you are."

"Yeah, I'm going to kick her ass while she's already down and feeling sorry for herself for a few reasons. One: If she's already down there's nowhere else to go. Two: No matter what we do, the moment we confront her, she'll immediately go into denial land and avoid us for a few days, if not a week. Three: the sooner we get started, the better off we'll be. If Ranger comes back earlier, before we've had a chance to make some changes, then she'll use him as cover to backslide like she always does. In Ranger's absence, I'm in charge and I'm not Ranger and I won't treat her like Ranger does." I'm firm on this. She's not my woman; at best, she's my little sister and I'll be the first to build her up, but a 30-year old woman needs to grow up.

"Lester, be honest with yourself," Bobby says. "She's a RangeMan, yes, but she's a RangeMan who eats contraband in full view of the rest of the office. How does that show respect for the leadership, for Ranger, to openly flout his rules with no reprisal? Yeah, she can make a dead man wanna pound nails from the noises that she makes, but in the meantime who takes the rules seriously? Hell, even you've been caught with contraband in your office when Bomber's around. She doesn't meet the physical requirements and doesn't log any range time. Again, it's a respect thing. She hides behind Ranger when he's around to get out of it, but if she's going to be in the office for the next year, she has to play by the same rules. Hell, even Tia Ella logs range time and she hates guns as much as Bomber but she respects the rules. And if you think we're being unfair, ask yourself: How long would Ranger allow Zip to get away with this shit? Hector? Manny? If the answer is he wouldn't then Bomber can't either."

Damn. I owe Bobby. I'm not even having to make the argument. Our eyes meet and we share a quick nod. Yeah, I've got a partner; he's tired of patching her up, tired of driving to the scene of the latest disaster, tired of. . . everything.

"Yeah. . . I mean, I know you're right. . . but. . ." Lester stares off, unwilling or unable to finish that sentence. I know how he feels. He finally looks at the two of use with resolve. . . "Look, what I know is this. You guys are right. She doesn't play by RangeMan rules and part of it is because she's not a RangeMan. I mean, she is but she wasn't military. She doesn't have the training we have, the standards we've adopted. And that's a blessing because when we've needed her, when those fucking kids were robbing us and our name was being dragged through the mud, she could think outside the box to catch them.

No matter what, when Ranger needed her, she was there. When we need her, she's there. When we've called her in to run distractions, she's been there. She has a way of handling situations that is unique to her and she's damn good at it. But you're right. At the core of the problem is a respect issue for the company and Ranger and, fuck it, herself really and Ranger's so fucking gone on her he either doesn't realize or doesn't care anymore but something has to be done." He sucks in a deep breath, like this is painful, and says, "So, I'm in."

I let out a breath I hadn't even realized I was holding. At the end of the day, I can enforce all the shit I want, but I need Lester's brilliant mind to help me plan this. Without him, I'd probably handle this all the wrong way.

"Thank you." I mean this. Lester has no idea how much it means to me to have him on board. "So, where do we go from here?"

"Well, first thing first, we have to plan tonight." Bobby says.

"Tonight?!" Lester and I are both stunned. Its 0100 and we're both on deck at 0700.

"Yes, tonight. If we handle this right, by the time Ranger comes back, we'll have Bomber situated and San Antonio up and running. We owe it to each other, and him, to make this happen."

"And it's gotta happen tonight?" Lester asks. Shit, I'm tired too, dude.

"Yeah, and here's why. Tomorrow Bomber's gonna wake up with her leg in a cast that she doesn't remember getting. She'll get out of bed and try to go about her day and if we aren't there when she wakes up, she'll make that fracture worse. So if we confront her while she's still on bed rest, then she can spend the mandatory time in bed in Denial land and after a week or two of bed rest, when she comes out of Denial land, we can get her started on whatever we plan tonight."

Damn. I gotta go to church on Sunday. Bobby is more devious than I thought. Now I need to back him up.

"True. At some point, we're leaving Trenton. I'm sick of this town and I know I'm not the only one. My original goal was to move to San Antonio permanently so I could be close to my family in Louisiana. Right now, we are all marooned in Trenton. So we need to start thinking about moving some members of the B-Team up. The guys need to feel that there's room for advancement in this company. We need to start moving people around within the company. And that starts tonight. We start planning Steph's improvement tonight. We call Ram, Manny and Hal in to run the whole shebang tomorrow. We plot and plan for the next 7 hours, leave the orders with the team, then go to Steph's and confront her. Come back, get some sleep and start thinking about our move west. Les, you still got the plans?"

Lester looks dazed. "Yeah, I got them."

"Pull 'em out of deep freeze. We're moving on it. You ready?"

"Yeah." The dazed and confused look is replaced with a look of determination. Something in Les has shifted and he is fully on board. "Yeah, I'm ready. Let's plan."